The  American  Church  in 
West  Africa 

is' 

BY  BISHOP  FERGUSON  i  -  - 


THE  DOMESTIC  AND  FOUR  I  OX  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY  OF  THE 
PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


CSL  Fourth  Avexce.  New  York. 


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CHRISTIAN  WORK  IN  AFRICA  STILL  MEANS  CARRYING  THE  GOSPEL 
TO  MANY  PRIMITIVE  HEATHEN 


SEVENTY  YEARS  ON  THE  AFRICAN 

WEST  COAST 


BY  THE  RIGHT  REVEREND  SAMUEL  D.  FERGUSON,  D.D.,  D.C.L., 

BISHOP  OF  CAPE  PAEMAS 


SEVENTY  years  have  passed  since 
the  Church  began  its  work  in 
Liberia.  The  efforts  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in 
the  United  States  of  America  to  evan¬ 
gelize  this  part  of  Africa  were  begun 
about  the  time  of  the  founding  of  the  col¬ 
ony  afterward  known  as  the  Republic  of 
Liberia,  by  the  American  Colonization 
Society  in  1821.  It  was  in  May,  1820,  that 
the  General  Convention  of  the  Church 
organized  a  missionary  society,  which 
immediately  began  to  put  forth  efforts 
to  establish  a  mission  on  the  west  coast 
of  Africa.  Among  the  agents  of  the  Col¬ 
onization  Society  who  came  out  in  1821, 
were  several  clerical  and  lay  members  of 
the  Episcopal  Church,  including  the  in¬ 
trepid  Jehudi  Ashmun,  They,  however. 


bore  no  commission  to  start  the  work  of 
the  Church. 

The  first  appointment  of  a  missionary 
was  made  in  1822,  when  it  was  deter¬ 
mined  to  send  Mr.  Ephraim  Bacon  and 
his  wife,  who  had  already  been  out  for 
the  Colonization  Society  and  returned 
to  their  home.  He  was  to  serve  as  a 
catechist.  Through  an  unfortunate  cir¬ 
cumstance,  the  arrangement  fell  through 
and  they  never  came.  The  way  then 
seemed  closed  to  the  managers  of  the  So¬ 
ciety  until  October,  1827,  when  Mr. 
Jacob  Oson,  colored,  a  candidate  for 
Holy  Orders  in  the  Diocese  of  Con¬ 
necticut,  was  appointed.  He  was  or¬ 
dained  deacon  on  Eebruary  16th,  1828, 
and  priest  on  the  following  day,  by  Bish¬ 
op  Brownell,  The  directors  of  the  Col- 


onization  Society  offered  him  a  free 
passage  in  one  of  their  ships  and  pledges 
were  made  for  his  support.  The  friends 
of  Africa  rejoiced  in  the  hope  that  the 
way  for  the  establishment  of  the  mission 
was  now  opened,  but  they  were  again 
disappointed,  as  Mr.  Oson  died  before 
the  sailing  of  the  ship  which  was  to  have 
carried  him  to  Africa. 

An  attempt  was  made  to  establish  a 
mission  school  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  for 
the  purpose  of  training  colored  young 
men  to  act  as  missionaries  in  Africa; 
but  that  likewise  was  a  failure.  Thus 


said  to  have  been  officiating  for  them 
as  lay-reader.  The  appeal  sent  over 
was  published  and  some  money  collected, 
but  what  became  of  that  movement  at 
Monrovia  I  have  no  means  of  ascertain¬ 
ing. 

When,  in  1834,  Dr.  Hall  founded  the 
colony  of  Maryland  in  Liberia,  of  which 
he  was  governor,  Mr.  J ames  M.  Thomson 
was  his  secretary.  I  find  the  following 
record  concerning  him :  “He  was  a  native 
of  Demarara  but  educated  in  the  United 
States,  whence  he  came  to  Liberia, 
about  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  intelli- 


THE  REV.  NATHAN  MATTHEWS  AND  SOME  OF  HIS 
CAPE  MOUNT  FRIENDS 


for  thirteen  years  the  efforts  to  begin 
work  in  this  land  proved  abortive. 

In  1833,  Dr.  James  Hall,  writing  to 
the  society  from  Monrovia,  gave  infor¬ 
mation  that  some  of  the  citizens  there 
had  formed  themselves  into  a  religious 
body  under  the  title  of  St.  James’s 
Church,  professing  to  be  governed  by  the 
laws  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  United  States  of  America.  He 
also  forwarded  an  appeal  that  had  been 
written  by  Mr.  James  M.  Thomson,  col¬ 
ored,  and  signed  by  the  wardens  and 
vestrymen,  asking  aid  in  the  erection  of 
a  house  of  worship.  Mr.  Thomson  is 


gent,  pious,  well  educated,  ardently  at¬ 
tached  to  the  distinctive  principles  and 
features  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and, 
for  a  considerable  period  had  been  officia¬ 
ting  among  the  colonists  as  lay-reader.” 

In  1834  the  secretary  of  the  missionary 
society  was  directed  to  open  a  corre¬ 
spondence  with  Mr.  Thomson  and  ascer¬ 
tain  from  him  whether  he  would  be  will¬ 
ing  to  engage  in  the  service  of  the  so¬ 
ciety.  To  this  he  consented,  and  in 
June,  1835,  he  and  his  wife  were  appoint¬ 
ed  teachers.  The  Colonization  Society 
offered  to  give  the  mission  a  piece  of  land 
on  Factory  Island,  Grand  Bassa,  or  else- 


where.  Mr.  Thomson  was  instructed  to 
select  such  a  spot  as  he  might  deem  suit¬ 
able.  After  consultation  with  the  gov¬ 
ernor  and  others,  he  decided  to  locate  on 
Nyepealu  (the  “Person  Curing  Hill”  or 
mountain)  as  the  natives  called  it,  near 
Cape  Palmas.  The  place  was  later  called 
Mt.  Vaughan  in  honor  of  the  Rev.  John 

A.  Vaughan,  under  whose  administration, 
as  secretary  of  the  missionary  society, 
the  enterprise  had  been  commenced. 
Here,  on  March  1st,  1836,  Mr.  Thomson 
began  school  work  with  seven  pupils — 
five  boys  and  two  -girls. 

Thus  was  the  desire  of  Church  people 
in  America  at  last  realized.  A  beginning 
of  the  work  which  they  were  anxious  to 
do  for  the  redemption  of  Africa  was 
made.  From  this  historic  spot  the  work 
has  spread  through  different  parts  of  Li¬ 
beria.  From  these  two  Negro  pioneers, 
Mr.  Thomson  and  his  wife,  the  number 
of  laborers  has  increased  to  sixty  clerical 
and  lay.  Instead  of  the  one  little  school 
at  Mt.  Vaughan  we  now  have  fifty-five 
boarding  and  day-schools.  Beginning 
with  the  seven  pupils  here,  we  now  count 
1,711  boarding  and  day  pupils. 

The  Pioneer  White  Man 

Ten  months  after  Mr.  Thomson  had 
started  the  work,  the  first  white  mission¬ 
ary  arrived  in  the  person  of  the  Rev. 
Thomas  S.  Savage,  m.d.  Here  is  the 
testimony  he  bore  to  the  faithfulness 
and  effective  service  rendered  by  the 
colored  pioneer  in  his  first  letter  to  the 
secretary  of  the  society: 

“I  am  much  pleased  with  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Thomson.  They  have  a  very  inter¬ 
esting  school  of  native  boys  and  girls. 
Everything  connected  with  the  mission 
gives  evidence  of  their  faithfulness  and 
capability  to  fill  the  important  post  with 
which  they  have  been  intrusted.  God 
has  signally  blessed  us  in  raising  up 
such  servants.”  In  view  of  the  fact 
that  they  were  the  first  Negroes  ap¬ 
pointed  to  work  in  the  mission  and  that 
they  had  the  honor  of  being  the  pioneer 
missionaries,  this  is  an  important  testi¬ 


mony  to  their  competency  to  fill  the  posi¬ 
tion. 

On  March  4th,  1837,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sav¬ 
age  removed  from  the  Cape  to  Mt. 
Vaughan.  In  the  following  month  he 
and  Mr.  Thomson  made  their  first  visit 
to  Graway,  Half  Cavalla,  Grand  Cavalla 
and  Rockbookah.  Dihne,  on  the  Cavalla 
River,  was  next  visited. 

On  July  4th,  1837,  the  Rev.  John 
Payne  and  wife  and  the  Rev.  Lancelot 

B.  Minor  arrived  in  the  field  and  set  to 
work. 

Mr.  James  M.  Thomson  died  in  De¬ 
cember,  1838,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Payne 
took  charge  of  the  work  at  Mt.  Vaughan, 
and  from  here  made  occasional  visits  to 
Graway  and  Cavalla.  On  October  2d, 
1839,  over  two  years  after  his  arrival  in 
the  country,  he  moved  to  the  latter  place, 
which,  after  his  consecration  to  the  bish¬ 
opric,  became  the  headquarters  of  the 
mission. 

Time  will  not  permit  me  to  trace 
further  the  early  history  of  the  mission. 
Missionaries  continued  to  arrive  nearly 
every  year.  Among  them,  I  may  men¬ 
tion  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  A.  Perkins, 
the  Rev.  John  Smith,  Miss  Martha  D. 
Coggleshall,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Hazlehurst, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Appleby,  the  Rev.  and  Mrs. 
E.  W.  Hening,  Mrs.  Catherine  L.  Patch, 
the  Rev.  E.  J.  P.  Messenger,  the  Rev. 

C.  C.  Hoffman,  “our  beloved  Barnabas,” 
as  Bishop  Payne  called  him,  the  Rev.  E. 
W.  Stokes,  the  Rev.  T.  A.  Pinckney,  the 
Rev.  Alexander  Crummell,  the  Rev. 
Hezekiah  Greene  (the  last  four  being 
Negroes),  the  Rev.  and  Mrs.  G.  W. 
Horne,  the  Rev.  and  Mrs.  H.  R.  Scott, 
and  many  others. 

The  First  Bishop 

Then,  too,  there  are  many  who  have 
been  raised  up  in  the  field,  both  natives 
and  Americo-Liberians,  whose  memories 
are  sacred  to  us,  but  who  are  also  too 
numerous  to  be  named.  For  fifteen  years 
the  work  went  on  without  episcopal 
supervision,  and  not  a  single  confirma¬ 
tion  nor  ordination  took  place.  At  last 


BISHOP  FERGUSON  AND  A  PART  OF  THE  CONGREGATION  AT  ST.- LUKE’S,  EDINA 


one  of  the  pioneers,  the  Rev.  John 
Payne,  who  had  labored  as  a  priest  four¬ 
teen  years,  was  called  home  to  receive  the 
office  of  bishop.  The  happy  event  took 
place  in  Alexandria,  Va.,  on  July  11th, 

1851.  At  that  time  there  were  four  mis¬ 
sion  stations — at  Cape  Palmas,  Ca- 
valla,  Rockbookah  and  Taboo.  St.  Mark’s 
Church  was  approaching  completion  and 
the  corner-stone  of  the  Church  of  the 
Epiphany  had  been  laid  and  nine  young 
men  and  women,  educated  in  the  mission 
schools,  were  employed  as  catechist, 
teachers  and  assistants. 

On  the  arrival  of  Bishop  Payne  in  July. 

1852,  new  impetus  was  given  to  the 
work.  The  first  confirmation  service  was 
held  in  St.  Mark’s  Church,  on  Christmas 
Day,  1852,  when  twenty-five  persons  re¬ 
ceived  the  rite.  The  first  ordination  took 
place  on  January  15th,  1854,  when  Mr. 
Garretson  W.  Gibson  (Americo-Liberian) 
was  made  a  deacon.  On  Easter  Day  of 
the  same  year  Messrs.  C.  F.  Ku  Sia 
Jones  and  John  Musu  Minor  (natives) 
were  also  ordained  deacons. 

Bishop  Payne  immediately  set  about 
extending  the  work,  not  only  in  Maryland 
County,  but  to  the  other  counties  as  well. 
In  1853,  the  Rev.  Alexander  Crummell, 
under  his  appointment,  started  the  work 
in  Trinity  Church,  Monrovia.  In  the 


same  year,  the  Rev.  A.  F.  Russell  was 
commissioned  to  open  services  at  Clay- 
Ashland.  In  1854,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pinck¬ 
ney  was  sent  to  Sinoe  to  begin.  In  the 
same  year  the  bishop  said,  “The  Bassa 
Cove  station  may  now  be  regarded 
as  fairly  commenced.”  The  late  Rev. 
Jacob  Rambo  was  stationed  there.  Four 
important  centres  were  thus  established, 
from  which  the  work  has  since  been 
spreading;  the  present  number  of  sta¬ 
tions — principal  and  minor  ones — being 
sixty-four. 

Bishop  Payne  retired  from  the  field  in 
1869,  after  nearly  thirty-two  years  of 
faithful  service,  including  eighteen  years 
in  the  episcopal  office.  He  died  at  his 
home  in  Virginia,  in  1874.  The  next 
bishop  was  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  J.  G.  Auer, 
who  had  left  the  Basle  Mission  to  join 
ours  in  1862.  He  was  consecrated  bishop 
in  April,  1873,  arrived  in  the  field  in  De¬ 
cember  of  the  same  year  and  died  two 
months  afterward.  The  Right  Rev.  Dr. 
C.  C.  Penick  became  the  third  mission¬ 
ary  bishop.  He  was  consecrated  in 
February,  1877,  returned  to  his  home 
in  the  United  States  October,  1882, 
after  five  years  of  service,  and  re¬ 
signed  the  charge  in  October,  1883. 
He  is  still  living  and  working  for  the 
Master.  The  present  incumbent,  as  the 


fourth  bishop,  was  elected  by  the  House 
of  Bishops,  in  1884,  and  consecrated  on 
June  24th,  1885.  His  connection  with 
the  mission  as  a  worker  dates  from 
October,  1S62. 

This  brief  sketch  of  the  beginning 
of  the  missionary  work  in  this  land 
presents  mostly  the  bright  side  of  the 
picture.  As  is  to  be  expected  with 
every  enterprise  of  the  kind,  there  were 
difficulties,  sore  trials  and  discourage¬ 
ments  encountered  by  the  pioneers  that 
should  be  taken  into  account.  But  with 
a  steadfast  faith  in  God  they  bravely 
pressed  forward,  undaunted  by  the  un¬ 
toward  circumstances. 

The  first  death  in  the  mission  was  that 
of  the  pioneer,  Mr.  James  M.  Thomson, 
as  we  have  seen,  two  years  and  eight 
months  after  starting  the  work.  He  was 
only  about  thirty-one  years  of  age.  The 
second  call  from  the  Master  of  the  vine¬ 
yard  came  to  the  wife  of  the  white  pi¬ 
oneer — Mrs.  Savage.  She  had  been  here 
only  a  few  months.  The  next  was 
Miss  Martha  D.  Coggleshall,  who,  like 
Mrs.  Savage,  was  summoned  from  her 
work  almost  before  it  was  begun. 

The  first  clerical  missionary  called 
away  was  the  Bev.  Lancelot  B.  Minor, 
who  had  worked  six  years.  He  died  at 
Taboo  and  was  interred  in  the  Mission 
cemetery  at  Half  Cavalla.  Upon  the 


stone  which  covers  his  mortal  remains 
are  inscribed  his  last  memorable  words: 
“Let  the  mission  go  forward;  let  it  go 
forward  more  than  ever.” 

Among  others  who  followed  were  Mrs. 
Patch  at  Cavalla,  Mr.  E.  J.  P.  Messen¬ 
ger,  here  at  Mt.  Vaughan,  Miss  Sophia 
M.  Smith,  six  weeks  after  her  arrival  at 
Rocktown,  Hr.  T.  R.  Steel  at  Cavalla, 
the  Rev.  George  W.  Horne  at  Rocktown, 
the  Rev.  Robert  Smith  at  Cavalla,  Mrs. 
Virginia  H.  Hoffman  and  her  little 
daughter,  Rate,  who  died  at  the  orphan 
asylum  and  were  buried  here  at  Mt. 
Vaughan,  Miss  Isabella  T.  Allay,  who 
worked  at  the  orphan  asylum  and  died  at 
Cavalla.  The  Rev.  C.  C.  Golden  Hoff¬ 
man,  one  of  the  best  men  that  ever  came 
as  a  missionary  to  Africa,  to  whose  mem¬ 
ory  we  have  a  mural  tablet  in  St.  Mark’s 
Church,  of  which  he  had  been  pastor,  fell 
asleep  at  the  orphan  asylum,  where  he 
lived,  on  November  25th,  1865,  and  was 
interred  in  Mt.  Vaughan  Cemetery. 
Among  his  last  utterances  is  a  message 
to  the  Church:  “Tell  them,  by  the  living 
crucified  One,  hold  not  back  their 
hands.”  And  then  with  his  expiring 
breath  he  exclaimed,  “Don’t  grow  weary; 
remember  who  has  promised,  ‘Lo,  I  am 
with  you  alway.’  Let  not  the  Church  go 
back,  but  rather  increase  her  efforts 
more.” 


The  Church’s  staff  in  West  Africa  includes,  in  addition  to  the  Bishop, 
1  white  clergyman,  2  white  women  teachers,  25  African  clergymen 
and  107  lay  helpers.  There  are  56  stations,  26  boarding-schools  with 
565  pupils,  and  30  day-schools  with  1,186  pupils. 


Tf  Copies  of  this  Leaflet  may  be  obtained  from 
the  Corresponding  Secretary,  281  Fourth 
Avenue,  New  York,  by  asking  for  Leaflet  No.  103. 

• 

U  All  offerings  for  Missions  in  the  District 
of  Cape  Palmas  should  be  sent  to  George  C. 
Thomas,  Treasurer,  281  Fourth  Avenue,  New 
York  City. 


II.  Edition,  February,  1909.  S.P.  (2M.) 


